Dutch low-cost airline Transavia is weighing passengers before they board their flights. But, before we all pick up our pitchforks, let’s take a deep breath: their end goal is reducing carbon emissions – and it’s entirely voluntary.
The, um, inventive procedure is part of an experiment being undertaken by the Dutch airline. As passengers board their flights they’re asked to step on electronic scales, which then record their weight.
The magic airport elves behind the scenes then know exactly how much fuel to fill the plane with. The more exact the figure, the less weight, and the less carbon-emissions. Genius!
The experiment took place on five Transavia flights yesterday which departed from Eindhoven Airport.
Transavia doet vandaag (op 5 vluchten) een experiment waarbij passagiers worden gewogen. Door een exactere bepaling van het gewicht aan boord kan de brandstofberekening nog nauwkeuriger worden uitgevoerd met als doel minder CO2-uitstoot. Deelname aan het experiment is vrijwillig. pic.twitter.com/JiEXQJhDb4
— Eindhoven Airport (@EINairport) September 12, 2019
“By a more precise determination of the weight on board, the fuel calculation can be performed even more accurately,” Eindhoven Airport tweeted.
What do people think?
Despite the airport and airlines justification, people on Twitter are skeptical that it isn’t all some elaborate plan for a discriminatory future:
En de volgende stap is dan zeker om het tickettarief te koppelen aan het gewicht van reizigers?
— Hans Vermeeren (@Hans__Vermeeren) 12 september 2019
Straks wordt je ticket per kilo gewicht berekend. Dus voor je op reis gaat even snel op dieet en niet teveel eten tijdens je verblijf elders, anders is je ticket niet meer heldig?????
— Dasa (@Dasa95535811) 12 september 2019
And others thought it was all one big joke:
Huh??? Ik dacht even dat het 1 april is……
— Roelanda Speelmans (@roesjou) 12 september 2019
Eindhoven Airport is politically committed to reducing emissions and noise pollution over the next ten years, so let’s hold our breath (and maybe cut back on the FEBO). At this stage it is unclear if there will be more trials or full implementation.
Look, if it truly is for the environment we’re on board with that – if it’s another attempt to increase profits, maybe less so. But, let’s hear you weigh in (couldn’t help ourselves). What do you think? Tipping the scales in the airlines favour, or gravitating towards to the environment? Let us know in the comments below!
Feature Image: maxpixel.com / cc 0